Award details

Phase behaviour & dynamics of food carbohydrates

Reference	BBS/E/F/04221050
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Stephen Ring
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Quadram Institute Bioscience
Department	Quadram Institute Bioscience Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	441,557
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1999
End date	31/03/2000
Duration	12 months

Abstract

The plant cell wall has a major influence on the mechanical behaviour of food plant tissues. This in turn affects their susceptibility to mechanical damage, processability, texture and acceptability of the product, and their behaviour in the GI tract once eaten. Conventional plant breeding has played a major role in improving the quality of fruit and vegetables. More recently molecular biology has shown the potential for the further, rapid improvement of quality. At present the approach is largely empirical as there is insufficient predictive understanding of the relationship between changing a certain enzyme activity and its effect on quality. For a more effective use of this technology there is a need to understand the relationship between cell wall organisation and material properties such as stiffness and strength, permeability to water and cell adhesion. These aspects need then to be related to the properties of the tissue relevant to application such as its mechanical behaviour or processability. The key questions to be addressed are: 1) How do the molecular properties of the cell wall polysaccharides affect their assembly in the wall and middle lamella and how does this affect the physical properties of this assembly. 2) In what ways do the physical properties of the wall and middle lamella affect the mechanical properties of the plant tissue.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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